Up Do or Down Do: which hairdo will do for you

A bride has to make oodles of decisions for her wedding day, but one that often brings the most stress is how to style her hair. When you get down to it, the real decision is whether to wear your hair up or wear it down. There are pros and cons to both.

An up do that is properly pinned and sprayed will likely look just about as fresh at the end of your wedding night as when you left the salon that morning. It also shows off your neckline and accentuates a beautiful back. But to keep it looking amazing will take boxes of bobby pins, which can cause plenty of pain and headaches after hours of use.

For those that an up do, just won’t do, you can wear your hair down, or half up/half down. This is sometimes a more romantic look and eases the pain you might experience from bobby pins. The downside with this hairdo is that it just doesn’t tend to hold up as well as an Up Do on a wedding day.

For the day of my own wedding, pictured below, I opted for half up/half down with curls and a tiara. While it was stunning that morning for the big reveal, by the 11AM ceremony it had fallen completely flat from the humidity. Luckily my stylist was also a guest so she touched it up with the curling iron. During the reception the pins holding the tiara at just the right place were starting to give me a head ache, so I quickly brushed my hair to make it more like big waves and put the tiara on like a headband instead.

If you follow these tips, you will be much more likely to have a good hair day on your big day!
#1 – Go and get test styled and bring a stop watch with you to see exactly how long it will take to get your hair done. Ask for the EXACT styling you would have on the day of your wedding.
#2 – If you are having your bridesmaids hair done as well, bring one along and see how long that process takes as well. This will help you plan out your schedule for the morning.
#3 – Take your test hairdo out for a spin. See how it performs in high humidity and/or wind and/or rain. Get your hair done early in the morning and see how it holds up during the day and evening. This will help you decide if this is really the hairdo you want.
#4 – Bring touch up tools with you like bobby pins, a curling iron and a hair brush, that way if your hair starts to fall flat you have the tools to appropriately take care of it. Brushing your hair is a good idea if you have straight hair and the curl has started to fall out and you don’t have time to re-curl it. Usually in photos it looks better to have it be consistently nice and wavy than a mish mosh of some pieces of hair that are still curled and others that are not.
#5 – If you are getting an up do, be sure and speak up as the stylist puts in the pins. Don’t let them leave a single pin in place that gives you pain. When you are up on the altar you want to be thinking about how wonderful your husband is, not how much your head hurts.